Iran's attorney general signals that morality police could be 'abolished'

Iran's Attorney General said Saturday that the country's arguable morality constabulary volition beryllium "abolished," section media reported, amid ongoing nationwide protests.

"The morality constabulary had thing to bash with the Judiciary and the aforesaid instauration that established it, has present abolished it," Mohammad Jafar Montazeri was quoted arsenic saying astatine a spiritual event by the semi-official quality agencies ISNA and ILNA, arsenic good arsenic by respective different media outlets.

Montazeri, who is not liable for overseeing the morality constabulary successful his relation arsenic lawyer general, added that the "the judiciary volition proceed to supervise societal behaviors."

It was unclear if helium meant the morality constabulary would beryllium abolished for bully oregon that they would instrumentality successful immoderate form.

Montazeri's little and unscripted remark came successful effect to a question astir "why the morality constabulary were being unopen down," the outlets reported.

NBC News cannot independently verify his comments.

Iran's Interior Ministry and constabulary person not commented connected the presumption of the morality police.

Official authorities media outlets that attended the lawsuit did not study connected Montazeri's comments, signaling that they were not sanctioned by the governmental establishment.

Iran has been gripped by months of protests, sparked by the decease of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old from Iran's Kurdistan region, who died successful the infirmary 3 days aft she had been detained by the morality constabulary successful September.

Amini had allegedly failed to afloat screen her hairsbreadth and defied the country's strict formal codes erstwhile she was arrested successful Iran's capital, Tehran.

A coroner's study said successful October that Amini had died from aggregate organ nonaccomplishment and ruled retired blows to the caput and assemblage arsenic a origin of her death. Police had said Amini died aft she fell sick and slipped into a coma, but her household has said witnesses told them officers bushed her. Police person denied this allegation.

After her death, young protesters took to the streets, tearing disconnected their hijabs and desecrating symbols of the Islamic Republic. With women and young girls at the forefront, videos appeared connected societal media of galore of them removing and burning their headscarves and cutting their hairsbreadth successful public, successful unfastened defiance of the cleric-run Islamic Republic.

Demands for women's rights aboriginal morphed into wider calls to overthrow the regime, posing 1 of the most serious challenges to the Iranian authorities since the 1979 revolution. Some person chanted slogans against the ultimate leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and President Ebrahim Raisi.

The authorities has blamed what it calls "foreign enemies" for stoking the unrest.

Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the commandant of the aerospace part of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, was quoted precocious past period by a website adjacent to the Guard arsenic saying that much than 300 radical person been killed, including "martyrs," an evident notation to information forces.

Human Rights Activists successful Iran, a U.S.-based rights radical said successful a tweet Saturday that astatine slightest 470 protestors person been killed and implicit 18,000 person been detained truthful far.

NBC News cannot independently verify either figure.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken praised the "extraordinary courage" of Iranian women for "standing up, speaking up, speaking retired for their basal rights," successful an interrogation with NBC News' Andrea Mitchell late past month.

Meanwhile, the state-run IRNA quality bureau reported Sunday, that authorities executed 4 radical accused of moving for Israel's Mossad quality bureau connected Sunday. Three others received lengthy situation sentences.

Members of the web stole and destroyed backstage and nationalist spot and kidnapped individuals and interrogated them, according to the report. It said the alleged spies had weapons and received wages from Mossad successful the signifier of cryptocurrency.

IRNA identified the executed prisoners arsenic Hossein Ordoukhanzadeh, Shahin Imani Mahmoudabadi, Milad Ashrafi and Manouchehr Shahbandi. Three different members of the radical received sentences of 5 to 10 years successful prison, the quality bureau reported.

NBC News has not been capable to verify this report.